Suffering Rights and Incorporation. The German Islam Conference and the integration of Muslims as a discursive means of their racialization

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn 2006 against the background of the increasing problematization of Muslims and Islam in Germany, the German government established the German Islam Conference. In a post 9/11 world, this was a time period shaped by the global ‘war on terror’ changes in the German naturalization law, the proliferation of racism targeting Muslims and migrants in the country, and the expansion of security apparatuses. The DIK’s stated aims are the integration of Muslims in German society and the institutional integration of Islam. I argue that this latter goal to integrate Islamic institutions into existing institutional structures in Germany traps Muslim organizations in the paradox of suffering rights. On the one hand, they find it hard to refuse the additional rights associated with the institutional integration of Islam; on the other hand, integration is deployed as a site of control and regulation. This is in addition to the use of integration as a call for cooperation in national security matters and the underlying racialization of Muslims that are central to the integration project of the German government.